Federal Bureau of Investigation

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, commonly referred to as the FBI, "originated from a force of Special Agents created in 1908 by Attorney General Charles Bonaparte during the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt." See FBI History.

Major changes in how the FBI conducts its business came in 2001 when FBI Director was tasked "with a specific mandate to upgrade the Bureau's information technology infrastructure, to address records management issues, and to enhance FBI foreign counterintelligence analysis and security in the wake of the damage done by former Special Agent and convicted spy Robert Hanssen", the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and, on October 26, 2001, the signing into law by President George W. Bush of Patriot Act I, "which granted new provisions to address the threat of terrorism."

Directors of the FBI

 * Source: Directors of the FBI.


 * Robert Mueller, September 4, 2001 to present
 * Thomas J. Pickard, (Acting) 2001
 * Louis J. Freeh, 1993-2001
 * Floyd I. Clark, (Acting), 1993
 * William S. Sessions, 1987-1993
 * John Otto, (Acting) 1987
 * William H. Webster, 1978-1987
 * Clarence M. Kelly, 1973-1978
 * William D. Ruckelshaus, (Acting) 1973
 * L. Patrick Gray, (Acting) 1972-1973
 * J. Edgar Hoover, 1924-1972
 * William J. Burns, 1921-1924
 * William J. Flynn, 1919-1921
 * William E. Allen, (Acting) 1919
 * Alexander Bruce Bielaski, 1912-1919
 * Stanley Finch, 1908-1912


 * Current FBI Executives.

Contact Information
Federal Bureau of Investigation J. Edgar Hoover Building 935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20535-0001 202-324-3000 Website: http://www.fbi.gov/


 * Contact Information for FBI Field Divisions.

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * Bush administration
 * Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
 * George W. Bush's domestic spying
 * intelligence community
 * National Security Service

Profiles

 * FBI's "Most Wanted".
 * FBI Counterterrorism: War on Terrorism/Counterterrorism.

Articles & Commentary

 * John Solomon, "FBI Bullet Analyses Flawed, Imprecise," Associated Press, November 21, 2003: "In a finding that could affect thousands of criminal cases, the National Academy of Sciences has concluded that some techniques the FBI has used for decades to match bullets to crimes are flawed or imprecise."
 * Bill Berkowitz, "Chilling dissent: As the Bush Administration ratchets up domestic spying the FBI is collecting 'research' reports on 'direct action' environmental groups produced by right wing think tanks", Media Transparency, January 25, 2006.